Commissioners support study of wider highway

By Jessica Pickens

Published: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 08:02 PM.

Cleveland County has waited decades for a proposed U.S. 74 bypass around Shelby.

Now, broader plans for the new highway may be in store.

County leaders provided approval this week for studying the possibility of widening the shoulders along the new stretch of highway and making the same adjustments to the road all the way from Interstate 26 to Interstate 85.

That would mean the road would be built to what is known as “interstate freeway standards,” according to Commissioner Jason Falls.

Plans for the widened standards were first introduced by Rutherford County leaders in March at a joint meeting with Cleveland and Polk county commissioners.

At the time, Rutherford and Polk county commissioners approved a resolution to request a N.C. Department of Transportation study of the costs and requirements of the broadened U.S. 74 proposal.

Cleveland County has waited decades for a proposed U.S. 74 bypass around Shelby.

Now, broader plans for the new highway may be in store.

County leaders provided approval this week for studying the possibility of widening the shoulders along the new stretch of highway and making the same adjustments to the road all the way from Interstate 26 to Interstate 85.

That would mean the road would be built to what is known as “interstate freeway standards,” according to Commissioner Jason Falls.

Plans for the widened standards were first introduced by Rutherford County leaders in March at a joint meeting with Cleveland and Polk county commissioners.

At the time, Rutherford and Polk county commissioners approved a resolution to request a N.C. Department of Transportation study of the costs and requirements of the broadened U.S. 74 proposal.

Cleveland County leaders requested more time to study the issue before approving the resolution, citing concerns about the cost and time impacts on the current U.S. 74 bypass, for which construction is expected to begin by next year and be complete by 2030.

“Since the bypass has a schedule now, we were hesitant in making a motion,” said Commissioners Chairman Ronnie Hawkins. “It was the board’s thinking that if we tried to ask for new changes, it would delay the bypass even longer.”

On Tuesday, commissioners approved the resolution for the NCDOT study.

The bypass has been in talks for more than 30 years and has been held up for a number of reasons. One hold up was the plans for which way the bypass would travel, according to officials.

“There were three routes under consideration: a southern route, a northern route or reworking the existing bypass,” said former county manager David Dear. “There were also a couple of environmental issues, such as the southern route would be more costly and would have gone across a number of creeks.”

The currently proposed route north of Shelby was selected more than 20 years ago because it was shorter and less expensive, Dear said.